Greetings - Hi All - Central Airconditioning systems Available in SA - Your Opinions your Reviews

[Yogs]

Greetings All. Hope everyone is doing well. Thought this might be a good place to get some Opinions.
I am not sure If i have the correct forum but would really appreciate anyone whom has a Central Airconditioning System installed at home to give me their thoughts on them, After Sales Service etc.
I am planning to build a home and interested in this but can hardly find reviews on any of these systems in SA.
The home magazines only show a Product Called AdvantageAir which I cannot find user reviews on this system.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanking you.

[Dave A]

Personally I prefer split airconditioning systems as opposed to central airconditioning.

[flaker]

Personally I prefer split airconditioning systems as opposed to central airconditioning.

Agree. more especially in a domestic situation. In summer the a/cons are on in some bedrooms only. I could be wrong here but 9,000 & 12,000 BTUs machines barely give trouble.

[Yogs]

Understood guys but according to AdvantageAir each room is zoned individually, every room has its own temperature sensor as well. http://www.advantageair.co.za/GENIII/genIII.asp .
It would be nice if anyone has a system like this running and see what they think about it ?
I as well am fond of split air con systems but if you would like your house to be one central temperature I think its hard to achieve with split aircons.

[Dave A]

I as well am fond of split air con systems but if you would like your house to be one central temperature I think its hard to achieve with split aircons.

We certainly do it just fine with lots of split units in my offices. Plus I don't get Mary's bugs from the other side of the building when she gets attacked by a dose of the sniffles.

[Justloadit]

You will find that women and men have different temperature comfort levels, with central systems, you have difficulty achieving this as the temperature setting is invariably set for the cooler or higher temperature depending on the season. Yes with a central system you can adjust the airflow to attempt to set the temperature, but this affects circulation.

Another issue with a central system, is that it has to continuously run at a pre-determined setting, if only one room is bring used, where as split systems, if only one room required conditioning, then only that room is operated.

Central systems are more for offices and retail stores.

[Yogs]

Will take your opinions into consideration.
Would still be nice to get a persons point of view who has installed a system in their home as well.
Over the past few years I have been going to home expo's and I have seen AdvantageAir at all these shows. So surely there must be a market for these systems in the home industry.

[Dave A]

So surely there must be a market for these systems in the home industry.

I'm sure there is. Big, upmarket homes mostly, I'd think. I've certainly had to navigate around enough roofs with central airconditioning piping strewn all over them over the years

Done correctly, central airconditioning certainly has some advantages going for it - the obvious main one being it's easier to conceal away. And the system you point to certainly goes some way to overcome the normal "one setting for all" downside of a central system.

Thinking about it, the industry that would probably give the best clues for pro's and con's on split systems vs central systems would be hotels which allow clients to set their room temperature. However, I've got a sneaking suspicion that those that look like they might be using ducted air might actually still be "split units", just with multiple room units connected to a single evaporator via refrigerant carrying lines, as typically you can adjust the fan speed as well.

[AndyD]

You get split central air con systems where there's an air handling unit indoors which contains the cooling coil and a fan plus you also get packaged central air con systems where all the machinery is packaged in the outdoor unit and just insulated ducting is installed to every room. Which system are you thinking about and how large is your house?

[Yogs]

Well the system I have so far looked at is AdvantageAir. I have only spoken to the sales consultants at the expo's to get some information.
The House is a single storey approx. 400m2. 4 Bedrooms.

[AndyD]

I think the inherrent problem with central packaged air con in a domestic house is that the central machine must be sized according to the maximun load that will be required on a hot day with multiple occupants. The problem is that you then have to run the same machine even if you just want to cool down a single room when only one person is in the house. There's several tricks they use to alleviate the inefficiency of doing this such as off-loading and using PWM supply for the compressor (invertor) but this only goes some of the way toward making it more efficient during low-load periods and the running cost can still be an eye-opener.

This is why this system works well in commercial buildings where everyone arrives and leaves within a small time window so the air-con needs to run flat out during the day then by switched off. There's very little middle ground where they just need to condition a few of the office spaces because of low occupancy.

Regardless of the advertising bumf on the website, for me the jury is still out on whether this system is the prudent option for a residential property especially at this time when energy efficiency is a big issue from all angles.

[Yogs]

I guess as you say the jury is still out on whether central airconditioning system do offer a more energy efficient system to the split units available. As well if it does live up to what they advertise as well.
I will actually maybe try and ask them to provide some references so I can maybe ask some of their customers about their system. Only if that's possible. If they are true believers that the system works well I'm sure they would'nt mind me speaking to some customers that they have installed the systems for.

[AndyD]

I think speaking to a few people with that equipment in a similar house would be a good start. Ideally you need to speak to an independent HVAC consultant or maybe a decent architect. I'd definately be prepared to spend a little to get good, tailored advice rather than risk making a poor choice that's going to haunt you for years to come.